End of year success for Black Sands Swim Squad at ASATT, Trinidad

Fifteen Black Sands Swim Squad (BSSS)swimmers took part in the 2019 annual ASATT Invitational Swimming Championships at the Trinidad Aquatic Centre December 11-14.

This highly competitive swim meet attracted some of the region’s best swimmers, coming from Jamaica, St Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and also from the USA.

In the girls 8 years and under category, BSSS’ OECS champion Eltonique Leonard swam herself to pole position on the medal podium, winning gold in the 50 metre breaststroke, followed by 2 silver and 1 bronze medal. At the conclusion of the meet, she was awarded the trophy for coming third overall in her age group.

In the girls 9-10 age group, Zariel Nelson swam herself onto the medal podium winning 2 silver medals.

Abigail Deshong and Jamie Joachim competed well in the girls 11-12 year age group. Joachim won 1 gold and 2 silver medals, whilst teammate Deshong won 1 silver and 2 bronze.

Mya DeFreitas succeeded in the very competitive girls 13-14 year age category, winning 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals.

Medal winners for the BSSS boys were Seth Byron, winning 1 bronze medal in the 9-10 age group and Eltonte Leonard, in the 11-12 age group, achieving 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.

BSSS also had medal winning success in the relays. In the girls 11-12 year age group the relay team of Jamie Joachim, Kennice Greene, Zariel Nelson and Abigail Deshong impressed the crowd by winning gold in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 50 metre freestyle relays. Whilst in the boys 15 and over relay team, Bryson George, Kenale Alleyne, Eltonte Leonard and Aaron DeFreitas won a bronze medal in the 4 x 50 freestyle relay.

Personal best performances were also achieved by Kyle John, Brandon George and Dariana Des Vignes.

Head coach of Black Sands Swim Squad Kyle Dougan commented “These are fantastic results to complete a magnificent 2019 swimming year. It has taken a lot of hard work to get to this standard and we are looking forward to working even harder in 2020.”

The following swimmers set new SVG National records:

Eltonique Leonard – Girls 7-8 years
100 freestyle – 1:18.99 50 butterfly – 36.06
200 freestyle – 2:59.41 200 IM – 3:18.12
50 backstroke – 42.63 50 breaststroke – 45.75

Zariel Nelson – Girls 9-10 years
50 butterfly – 33.46

Jamie Joachim – Girls 11-12 years
100 freestyle – 1:07.59
200 freestyle – 2:24.82
400 freestyle – 5:16.30
100 backstroke – 1:18.54
200 backstroke – 2:49.20

Abigail Deshong – Girls 11-12 years
50 freestyle – 29.97
50 butterfly – 31.35

Kennice Greene – Girls 11-12 years
100 butterfly – 1:16.16

Mya DeFreitas – Girls 13-14 years
100 butterfly – 1:12.90
800 freestyle – 9:51.21
200 butterfly – 2:52.10

Seth Byron – Boys 9-10 years
200 freestyle – 2:31.56

Eltonte Leonard – Boys 11-12 years
50 butterfly – 29.05

Bryson George – Boys 13-14 years
50 freestyle – 25.58
100 freestyle – 57.39